Anthony Arillotta wraps up final day of testimony for prosecution in mob murder case

NEW YORK - Government witness Anthony Arillotta, a former made member of the Mafia from Springfield, is wrapping up his fourth day of exhaustive testimony in the trial of onetime alleged partner in crime Emilio Fusco in U.S. District Court in Manhattan.

Prosecutors say Fusco provided Bruno's shooter with a .45 caliber gun and flagged the whereabouts of Bruno, Fusco's rival, on the night Bruno was killed. Arillotta has testified that he joined Fusco in repeatedly bashing Westerman over the head with a shovel after Westerman had already been shot, and helped bury him in an eight-foot ditch, later toasting their teamwork over cognac.

Fusco has denied any involvement in the killings and defense lawyer Richard B. Lind has suggested Arillotta has falsely attributed roles in the slayings to Fusco in order to curry more favor with the government. Over hours of cross-examination, Lind peppered Arillotta with questions about how Arillotta previously testified that he and "his crew" were flush with guns including two AK-47's Arillotta had stashed in an elderly friend's garage -- flagging the logic of why Fusco would be required to furnish one for the Bruno shooting.

Lind also queried the reasoning behind Arillotta's testimony that he jumped in to help Fusco bludgeon Westerman with a second shovel if Fusco purportedly already hit the dying man a dozen times.

"What was the need for you to do anything at all?" Lind asked, also taking pokes at Arillotta's recollections of specific dates and details surrounding the killings.

Arillotta's testimony remained nearly as consistent as the khaki prison drabs he wears to court each day, however. He was arrested in connection with the Bruno murder in 2010, and told jurors he almost immediately decided to cut a deal with prosecutors in order to spare himself a potential death penalty and vastly reduce an otherwise mandatory life sentence. He pleaded guilty to two murders, an attempted murder, extortion, drug-dealing, two thwarted murder plots against rivals and illegally possessing assault rifles in June of 2010.

Arillotta already helped the government send two of his former enforcers and the onetime acting boss of the New York-based Genovese crime family to prison for life after testifying in a trial in the same courtroom last year.

Fusco faces 20 years to life in prison if convicted of the murder allegations in this trial. It is expected to last up to three weeks.